Pettit: Truth, logic, emotion cloud issue as Pirate walks the plank

SAN ANTONIO — Years ago, as he was preparing me for my eventual entry into the job market, my dad gave me this advice: “Don’t ever become more trouble than you’re worth.”

What he didn’t have to tell me was that the only person who would be involved in measuring “trouble” against “worth” was the boss himself.

And that evaluation doesn’t have to be fair to be final.

If Mike Leach’s old man told him the same thing he didn’t listen.

Whether a person is fired from building widgets, writing columns or coaching football, the result of that appraisal is almost always the catalyst.

That Leach seemingly never really gave a damn what people thought was part of his appeal. Writers and broadcasters loved his free-wheeling, off-the-cuff style and, as a result, nobody — not even Obama — enjoyed a more favorable press.

A few days before the Alamo Bowl game, one TV channel flew its sports guy home from San Antonio so that Leach’s attorney could put Adam James’s “incarceration” in the most favorable light possible. Somebody speculated, only half jokingly, that Leach’s attorney must have paid the air fare ...

Actually, that station’s effort wasn’t even necessary. The people — and there were thousands of them — who supported Leach were already riled as only football frantic fans can get.

Before, during and after the game, not just hundreds — thousands — of fans chanted in unison “We want Leach ...”

Signs — some printable in this section, others not — lambasted everybody believed to have been involved in the firing decision, and blasted ESPN for how it had covered the controversy.

And, fans being as fans are, it would be interesting to see how many of the bloggers who were calling for Leach’s hide after the lopsided loss to the Aggies were now exuding enthusiastic support ...

MEANWHILE, Leach did have his dissenters. They were quick to assert that his record number of wins was partially due to an annual schedule of “walkover” non-conference games; and his holding the Tech record for the most bowl appearances is mitigated by the fact that he’s the first Raider coach to enjoy the “six wins and you’re in” selection process. They figure that any coach who couldn’t get six wins with Tech’s non-conference schedule should get into another line of work.

Critics also point out that with all the coaching vacancies that crop up each year, Leach’s name is rarely, if ever, mentioned. And that’s despite his being accused of constantly “shopping himself around.”

Realistically, the practice of “soft scheduling” is not done to build a coach’s resume but, rather, as an economical necessity. Bowl games mean money and, what with expenses — including million dollar coaching salaries — the athletic budgets are in constant strain.

MY ORIGINAL opinion of Leach was not very high. But watching his offense evolve into an attack that often appeared unstoppable, I came to appreciate his genius.

And, like the entire community, I was shocked but not surprised when the news of his suspension broke. Clearly, Leach had chosen to heed to his own drummer in dealing with those above him. It was equally clear that he and Myers were, at best, in an ongoing state of mutual toleration.

Unfairly, I believe, it is Myers who is taking the hardest blows; and, unfortunately, many of them are landing below the belt.

The action was launched from above Myers’s pay grade. That’s not to suggest that Gerald voiced any opposition.

Had the firing been a result of that stormy relationship as an e-mail published a day or so before the game was taken to imply — part of Leach’s demand during those highly publicized contract hang-ups was to be named “athletic director of football” with a reporting link directly to the university chancellor — I would have chalked it up to an unfortunate result of clashing egos.

But Chancellor Kent Hance and regents vice-chair Jerry Turner, two persons whose devotion to Tech and, of greater import, their demonstrated integrity, could not have been swayed by the simple fact that Myers clearly wanted Leach out of his hair. That either Hance or Turner would ever act contrary to Tech’s best interest is, to me, unthinkable.

As the weekend wore on, evidence of Leach’s treatment of James became more damaging and his support among current players less than overwhelming.

A trainer who gave a statement solicited by Leach differed drastically from an affidavit taken under oath. In it he said he was opposed to the action taken but had to do it because Leach ordered him to do so. The team physician’s sworn statement was similarly inconsistent and damaging.

Several players concurred with the sworn versions, and more than one was quoted as saying that Leach’s departure was good riddance.

Yet, in the eyes of the fans who are hurt and angry, none of the above would likely have made any difference. They were in no mood to consider anything except that their Pirate had been forced to walk the plank and somebody needed to pay.

And, late in the first half when the Raider offense began to sputter, murmurs of Leach’s absence being the cause were beginning to stir (never mind that the exact thing had happened in the A&M game under the Pirate’s flag).

IT IS UNFORTUNATE that some Leach critics have likened the situation between him and James to what befell Mark Mangino at Kansas or Woody Hayes at Ohio State. It fell far short of both.

Leach, in some ways, reminds me of Jim Carlen, whose outstanding coaching skills were smothered by behavior — and ancillary tactics — that kept getting in the way of his route to professional acclaim.

Carlen, having just beaten Texas to take apparent control of the 1974 SWC championship race, tried to use that collateral to unseat JT King as athletic director. That change of focus saw his team’s season crater and, along with it, his hopes of replacing King. Carlen was not fired but likely avoided it by quickly accepting an offer from South Carolina. Unfortunately for both him and the Gamecocks, that relationship would also end in turmoil.

Individual complexity can become the enemy of logic if not reality.

SITTING HERE in The Alamo Bowl awaiting the kickoff, I looked at two college football teams, each representing a university of great standing in all measurable regards, whose very appearances here represented successful seasons. Yet the coverage of both teams had been focused on tumultuous events.

It is a phenomenon of higher education in America — not just at Texas Tech, where Tier One academic status is now within reach — that the measure of acclaim focuses more often on the scoreboard than in the classroom.

Not many months ago, Tech was in the process of searching out and hiring a new president ... a man or woman to provide the scholarly vision and leadership essential to academic greatness.

Conversation about potential candidates for that critical position was slight and limited in audience.

Conversely, beginning the week before this game and sure to gain momentum in days to come, everybody seemingly has his life wrapped around who will be the next football coach.

Yet — and this is very hard for the public to accept at this juncture — the most notorious of coaches will and should always answer to the most anonymous of presidents.

It has to be that way — even if it means a man can sometimes become more trouble than he’s worth and never know why ...

BURLE PETTIT is editor emeritus of The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. E-mail: burlepettit@sbcglobal.net with the word “column” in the subject line.